The Fire
by Lanta Montgomery
Summary: "Ralph turned his hands over in his lap. His fingers were soiled with blood and he choked on a sob, bringing them to his face. He traced them down his cheeks and neck, smearing the grime everywhere. Just like Jack..."


A/N:  Wrote this story a while back.  While I have read the book, this fiction is taken from the movie (90's version).  As far as storylines go, the book and movie are roughly the same.  Differences you need to know:  The movie takes place in the current time period of its release (90's).  The boy's language is relatively obscene (very much more so than the book) and the movie receives an R rating for it.  As for other notes, this specific story takes place during the final hunt for Ralph.  _Italicized _words relate flashbacks or internal thinking.  Also, much of the dialogue in the flashbacks was taken directly from the movie.  I take no credit for it.

The Fire

            Ralph's lungs burned as he pushed his way forward, muscles numb to the pain.  His calloused feet slipped on rocks and twigs that lie in his path.  How the hell had this happened?

            _The ocean waters broke softly on the shore.  Ralph walked along slowly, Jack at his right side.  The air was sweet with jasmine, too sweet._

_            "I don't know," Ralph said.  "What if someone gets really sick?"  He scratched at his bare throat, already red with the sun._

_            "Man," Jack's breath ghosted over his face, "you've got to stop worrying so much."  The gulls had gone quiet now and Ralph moved subconsciously closer to the blonde.  "We've got it made, no parents, no academy, no girls."  _

_            Ralph's movement paused, looking towards Jack and into the sun.  Jack's fringe was dangling in his eyes, and Ralph repressed the urge to brush it away.  He swept his gaze to his fingers, still dirty with soot.  This island was certainly making him mad._

_            "Of course…"  Jack turned to him, placing strong hands on his shoulders.  Muscles flexing under taunt skin, he pushed Ralph to the ground.  "I wouldn't mind getting a little every now and then."_

_            "Like you ever got any," Ralph said, sand clinging to his wet shins.  He watched as the light in Jack's eyes changed, orbs clouding for a moment.  Jack pounced as he tried to stand up, effectively holding Ralph down, pinning his arms at his sides._

_            "I still wouldn't mind."  Their noses nearly touched and for a brief moment there was something between them, a thin stand connecting their very cores.  The feeling left both breathless.  _

_            "Ralph!"  Ralph turned to see Piggy waddling across the beach.  "Ralph!"_

"Ralph!"  The mocking call was loud to his ears.  They were closer now and he fought his way through the foliage, fire licking at the trees around him.  The smoke was heavy in his throat.

            _Ralph called an assembly, the conch sounding loud and clear.  Jack arrived first, bare chest heaving as he stood before him.  Biting his lip, Ralph waited for the other boys to arrive._

_            "I've called an assembly," Ralph started, eyes lighting on Jack, "well, for several reasons."_

_            "Yeah," Jack was quick to step forward.  "Some jerk-off stole me pocket knife!"  The boys had grown restless.  "What should we do with thieves?"_

_            Ralph clutched at the conch as an uproar began.  There was a small lace of fear clawing at his brain and he was biting his lip harder now.  His fingernails scraped down the shells surface._

_            "Alright, alright!" he screamed.  _

It had started then.  Ralph couldn't run anymore.  His body collapsed and he used his arms to drag himself under a nearby patch of weeds.  It had all started then.

            _Jack had become obsessed with hunting.  Ralph sat by the fire, feet buried in the sand, as Jack hewed a rough spear.  He could feel his eyelids drooping as the heat crept over his body._

_            "I'm going to get one."_

_            "Hmm?"  Ralph opened his eyes enough to see Jack crawling towards him, spear in hand._

_            "A pig," Jack said in a whisper, shoulder brushing against Ralph.  _

_            "Oh."  Ralph was alert now, a tingling spreading down his right arm, now pressed fully against Jack.  Ralph's skin had become much too hot, nearly burning.  _

_            "I'm going to get one.  Just you wait."_

They crept up through the grass, Roger leading the hunt.  Ralph could see them clearly and he stopped breathing altogether.  Was it possible for your heart to explode?  The pounding was consuming him, magnified tenfold in his head.  He certainly thought so.

            _There had been a plane.  A goddamn plane and where the hell where they?  Ralph twisted his fingers in his brown locks.  Where the hell had they been?_

_            Jack was laughing, his followers carrying a pig stretched between two broken branches.  His face was painted with dirt and blood and Ralph wanted to cry, scream until his throat was raw.  Where the hell were you?_

_            "If you guys hadn't let the goddamn fire go out, they would've seen it."  Ralph's shook, his hands clenched into fists._

_            "Look man," Jack ran fingers through his blood streaked hair, eyes spotting the plane already so far away, "we were hunting."    _

_            "Great."  Ralph stepped forward and Jack dropped the branch he was holding, the pig falling to the sand.  "Killed a pig."  His fingers connected to Jack's stained face, trailing over a cheekbone and down to his jaw.  Their eyes locked.  _

_            "Yeah."  Jack breath was labored, coming in sharp gasps._

_            "Face it, Jack!" Ralph spat, hand dropping to his side.  Jack winced as if burned.  "You fucked up!  We could've been rescued!"_

_            "Back off man."  Jack swallowed, features hardening.  "I'm sick of your shit and so is my gang!"  _

_            "Your gang?" Ralph said furiously.  "What's that supposed to mean?"_

_            "What it means," Jack pushed him, Ralph stumbling slightly, "Colonel, is that if you know what's good for you you'll stop trying to run things."_

_            Ralph elbowed him back and they fell to the sand.  Jack tore at Ralph's shorts, leaving red scratches down his abdomen.  In retaliation, Ralph's feet connected with Jack's thighs, successfully throwing him off. _

_            Jack glared at him, hands rubbing at his bruising legs.  The heat in his gaze left Ralph speechless.  His arms were useless under his weight, body unmoving from the ground._

_            "I'm sick of all this shit!" Jack declared.  "I'm making a new camp… for the hunters!  Us guys are going to have a little fun."_

_            "Jack!"  Ralph's words were surprisingly desperate and he clamped his mouth shut at once, ashamed.   _

_            "What?"  Jack's expression was guarded as he watched Ralph stand on shaking muscles._

_            "Come on, Jack," he pleaded.  "We've got to work together.    What do you say?"  _

_            Jack sprang forward, a haughty smile on his lips.  Grabbing Ralph's hair, he brought their faces close.  "I say…"  He licked his lips as Ralph's eyes widened.  "Fuck.  You."  His head turned, eyelashes brushing against Ralph's forehead.  "And that goes for you too, Mrs. Piggy."_

_            Piggy's mouth opened in outrage.  Violently, Jack released his hold on Ralph.  He walked towards the others, gesturing his hands to the trees._

_            "Let's go."  _

_            Ralph watched, horrified, as his camp was split in two, many of the older boys following Jack.  His legs collapsed under him.  Piggy was right by his side, cursing Jack, saying he'd known it all along.  Ralph wasn't listening._

_            He turned his hands over in his lap.  His fingers were soiled with blood and he choked on a sob, bringing them to his face.  He traced them down his cheeks and neck, smearing the grime everywhere.  Just like Jack.  _

"See anything over there?"  Roger looked ridiculous, body covered in dirt, black circles around his eyes like a raccoon.  Ralph bit on his fist to restrain hysterical laughter.  It was all just ridiculous.

            Sam-n-Eric could see Ralph, he knew it, blue eyes pleading with them.  "No," they said in unison, small bellies poking out.  "Nothing."

            Everything went still and for a moment, a second, Ralph thought they would pass.  He squeezed his eyelids shut, sweat collecting on his brow.  Everything was so quiet.

            _"We killed a pig today."  Jack marched up to Ralph, teeth white against his dark skin.  "There's going to be a feast."_

_            Ralph's eyes narrowed and he scowled.  Jack made his blood boil, made him angrier than he'd ever been before.  He wanted to tear Jack's eyes out, rip that filthy mouth to pieces.  He wanted to hurt Jack and it scared him._

_            "Now," Jack whispered, hands pushing his followers forward._

            "The chief has spoken," they cried.  They lifted their spears and ran down the shore, heals kicking up the sand.

_            "See you tonight," Jack was suddenly close and Ralph was grinding his teeth, heat rising in his stomach, "girls."_

_            The night was dark as Piggy and Ralph entered the other camp, a bonfire stretching high into the sky.  Jack sat on the sand, propped up on his elbows.  He grabbed Roger's arm, lazily whispering as he looked to Ralph.  Ralph unknowingly tensed at the act.  _

_            Meat was thrown their way and Piggy devoured it greedily, Ralph watching on in disgust.  This wasn't right.  He let the meat fall from his hands._

_            "I promised them meat, didn't I?" Jack addressed the crowd.  "I kept my promise."  He looked to Ralph. "You tell the liluns Jack kept his promise."_

_            "We didn't come here for meat."  Ralph's palms were sweaty and he ran them down the sides of his red boxers.  "We've got to become one tribe again."_

_            "Oh really?"  Jack stood, sending a signal to another boy.  "You can join my tribe then and have all the meat you want."  There was something in his face, the posture of his body that Ralph too readily ignored._

_            "We have the conch at our camp!"_

_            "No one's interested in you and your fucking conch!"  Jack approached and the others drew away, creating a path.  "Why don't you and your fat friend just shove off?"  _

_             The boys were dancing about now, forming a circle around Piggy that Ralph couldn't disregard.  They jabbed their spears at him and he squealed helplessly, tears dripping from his broken glasses.  The fire set them all in a wild glow.  _

_            Ralph jumped as hands slid up his spine, over his shoulders.  Arms pulled him back into a hard body.  He struggled to turn around and a small laugh fluttered over his right ear, lips moving against his neck._

_            "Are you afraid, Ralph?"  Jack's voice was husky, Ralph groaning as a tongue swept over his jaw.  "Are you?"_

_            Screams arose and they both froze, Jack stepping swiftly back.  Something was coming down the shore, glowing neon green against the darkness.  Something…_

_            "Kill the monster!" Roger yelled, words slicked with fear.  The crowd surrounded the glow, harsh spears tearing into the squealing mass.  It was all over in the blink of an eye._

_            Ralph and Jack reached the scene just as lighting struck, illuminating the dead body.  Simon's dead body…  Ralph choked and shook his head.  It hadn't happened.  It couldn't have…_

            "Jack!"

            Ralph rolled out of his hiding spot, running the first few yards bent over, close to the ground.  He was sprinting now, hunting calls shattering the silence.  The forest was thinning out to merge with the beach and there was nowhere he could go.  He was successfully trapped.  

            _"I've brought the conch."  The boys stood on the rocks around Ralph, painted faces blank.  "I'm calling an assembly."  There was a slight shiver in the throng and Ralph smiled.  They remembered.  They remembered how it used to be before…  "Where's Jack?"_

_            "What do you want?"  Jack approached Ralph and Piggy, hand tightening on his spear._

_            "You heard me, I'm calling an assembly."  Ralph had to shout to make his voice rise over the sound of the others._

_            "Why don't you two just fuck off?"  Jack was nearly naked, tattered underwear hanging loosely off his narrow hips.  "This is my end and my tribe!"_

_            "You're the one raiding our camp and stealing Piggy's glasses.  You've got to give them back!  He can't see."  Ralph licked his lips nervously.  "If you wanted fire all you had to do was ask."_

_            Jack's face contorted slightly.  Unveiled emotions flashed across his features and Ralph drew in a quick breath. They were replaced all too soon with a malicious sneer, Jack shaking his head._

_            "Who says I do?  I don't have to ask for anything!"_

_            Ralph wasn't ready for the punch that greeted him in the stomach.  He bit his tongue, blood gushing into his mouth as he fell.  Jack was on top of him, prying the conch from between his fingers and casting it aside, shell shattering against the rocks._

_            He lashed out, curling his calf behind Jack's knee and flipping them over.  The boys were shouting now, egging them on.  His teeth bared, Ralph pinched Jack's inner thigh as he was again pinned down._

_            Jack growled into his neck.  Aiming for leverage, Ralph slid his thigh between Jack's legs, freezing at the hardness he found there.  Ralph kicked Jack away, throwing sand everywhere as he crawled backwards.  He stared, eyes wide and knowing, as Jack cast his eyes to the ground._

_            Laughing replaced catcalls and Ralph looked up just in time to see Roger loosen the rock, sending it tumbling towards Piggy.  His mouth was dry and everything seemed to happen so slowly.  Stupid, blind Piggy… and nothing was ever going to be right again._

_            "No!" he screamed.  He was too late to warn Piggy.  He was too late to save him.  He was too late to do anything as he watched the boulder smash down on Piggy's head, heard the sickening crack of his neck.  Ralph was crying and he didn't care.  He didn't give a fuck._

_            "You're not going to get away with this."  The sight of Piggy's dead body made him want to vomit and he stood, clutching at his thinning stomach.  Everyone was silent, waiting for him to do something he couldn't… wouldn't do._

_            "What are you going to do?"  Jack's voice was incredulous, shaking with poorly hidden fear.  "You're out of it pal.  You're on your own."_

Ralph could hear Jack's screams, nearer than the rest.  He could feel them coming.  Glancing over his shoulder, he could see them emerging from the woods, Jack at the head of the pack.  It was too much.

            _"I still wouldn't mind."_

He had reached the edge of the beach, sand dropping off suddenly in a twenty-foot fall.

            _"What should we do with thieves?"_

The cliff was sharp, the ocean treacherous.

            _"I'm going to get one.  Just you wait."_

He couldn't breath and surely he was suffocating.

            _"I say, fuck you!"_

His brain wasn't working, was turning to mush, leaking from his ears.

            _"Are you afraid, Ralph?"_

Blue water stretched out before him and they were almost on his back now.

            _"You're out of it pal.  You're on your own."_

His legs shook as they moved, barely supporting his weight.

            _The destroyed conch, Piggy's dead body, Jack touching him… on top of him…  Jack.  Jack.  Jack._

Brown bangs flew into his eyes, obscuring his vision.

            _Jump fool!  Jump!_

Ralph pressed his hands against his ears forcefully, tears escaping from his eyes…

            _Shut up!  Shut up!_

…and jumped.

*****

            Jack came to a halt at the edge of the cliff, gazing down at the swirling ocean.  His heart was still pounding in his chest, jumping up his throat.  His fingers and toes were abuzz with the sensation of the chase, cock hard against his loincloth. 

            "Roger."  The boy knelt down at his side.  "Take the others back to the camp."

"Yes, Chief," Roger spoke gruffly.  He laid the spear, sharpened at both ends, at Jack's feet, shooing the other boys back into the forest.

When they were out of sight, Jack dropped to the ground, peering more closely over the sand's edge.  If he was careful, he could climb down the cliff's face.  Survival knife clutched tightly in one hand, he lowered himself over the brink.  The sharp rock cut into his feet, leaving them slippery with blood.  He let his body drop the last few meters, landing in a shallow patch of water.

"Ralph?" he called, mockingly sweet.  "Where have you gone?"  He dragged the knife over his smooth forearm.  

Jack didn't scream when his feet were yanked out from under him.  He didn't cry out when he was forced underwater, knife driven from his hand.  He didn't make a noise when he surfaced, back scraping against the jagged stone, warm hands on his chest.

"Ralph."  Jack smiled falsely.  "How good to see you."

            "Bastard."  Ralph kept him trapped against the cliff's face, bringing the stolen survival knife up to press at his jugular.  "Give me one reason why I shouldn't slit your throat."  His eyes were bloodshot and his hands trembled.  "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you like you killed Piggy and Simon."

            Jack gave a hoarse laugh, eyes wild.  "And what if I don't have one?" he said.  Ralph blinked, the weight on Jack's chest slightly decreasing.  "Here," Jack offered, hand covering Ralph's.  "I'll help you."

            "What?"  But Jack had already twisted out of his grip, knocked Ralph's fist from his throat.  He held Ralph's head underwater as the drowning boy clawed at him, pulled off his loincloth and slashed the knife across his calf.

            "Fuck!" Jack hissed, crawling out of the water and onto a narrow strip of sand.  His wounded leg shook under his weight, turning the granules red beneath him.  He groaned as Ralph grabbed onto his foot, pulling him back to the water.

            "I hate you!" Ralph cried and it seemed he had lost the knife at some point underwater.  He used his fists to pummel Jack's body.  "I fucking hate you!"

            Ralph stopped when he realized Jack wasn't fighting back.  He propped himself up on his arms as Jack coughed up blood, eyes squeezed painfully shut.

            "I wouldn't have done it."  The voice was small but Ralph heard the words clearly.  He looked down at Jack, head spinning, so very confused.  Jack seemed entirely vulnerable below him.  He was naked and for the first time he seemed fully exposed, laid out soullessly before him.

            Ralph brought a hand to Jack's face, turning it gently towards him.  Jack's eyes were dark, pupils huge.  He could feel Jack's heart beating against his chest, nearly in sync with his own.  Oh God, he could feel everything.

            There was the sound of helicopters above and Jack squinted against the sunlight, choking.  Ralph had gone tense and they both lay still, neither breathing as the gray monsters descended to land.

            "The fire," Ralph croaked.  Sobs were racking his body and he let the tears come now, dripping down his nose and splattering across Jack's cheek to mingle with his own droplets, washing away weeks of blood and anger as the forest fire lit the sky.

            Jack smiled, fingers tilting Ralph's forehead to meet his.  He gulped in mouthfuls of air, eyes locked on Ralph.  Both breathed in the scent of death, destruction… hope.   

            "The fire," Jack repeated.

            __


End file.
